Bend & Break
by Ayanotheflameprincess
Summary: Sakura is finally trying to let go of her strong feelings for Sasuke while Hinata is trying to make Naruto realize her feelings, but what happens when they all get sent on a dangerous mission together? Will love blossom for Hinata and Naruto? What will happen when Sakura is forced to deal with her feelings?
1. Team 7

**Summary: Sakura is finally trying to let go of her strong feelings for Sasuke while Hinata is trying to make Naruto realize her feelings, but what happens when they all get sent on a dangerous mission together? Will love blossom for Hinata and Naruto? What will happen when Sakura is forced to deal with her feelings?**

 **A/U:** _I believe this is my first Naruto fan fic wow I can't believe I never got around to this. I've been wanted to write something for this for a while so I hope ya like~_ _ **this takes place**_ _like right after where Sasuke goes on his redemption journey. Keep in mind that the scene where he pokes Sakura's forehead and says "see you soon" will be mentioned but I altered it for the purpose I have in this fic because that poke to the forehead is supposedly like an ultimate form of affection from what I read somewhere and that can't happen yet XD. EEEEEENJOY!_

 _ **P.S:** Cover image was found on weheartit posted by Lady Sharingan._

* * *

 _The two were there next to each other. Blood streamed from the place where their arms used to be until the substances intersected and mixed. The war…the pain… it was finally all over. Sakura witnessed the two in their state and grief built up over the loss of their limb. She crouched down between the two and had begun to heal their significant wound._

 _"Thanks Sakura!" Naruto gratefully said to her._

 _Sasuke turned his head to look at her, now feeling the extent of his guilt when he saw her face. He carefully tried to come up with a sentence to say._

 _"Sakura I…"_

 _"Don't," she halted his words._

 _"I need to concentrate," she added._

 _He paused for a moment but insisted in continuing._

 _"I'm sorry."_

 _"Sorry for what?" Sakura spoke with her attention not drifting from the task at hand. Her eyes never met his._

 _"For everything I've done up until now," he said as sincere as he could._

 _There was a small silence between the three. He couldn't tell if she was going to ignore him or say something with her facial expression looking so lifeless. Suddenly her face softened and it seemed as if she was about to say something._

 _"You'd better…" she sighed._

 _She slowly broke down in tears from the emotion that was building up inside her body._

 _"You are…so much trouble...stupid."_

 _The two boys formed a smile across their bruised and swollen faces. For the first time they felt that everything was going to be all right. Kakashi had watched the moment from a distance, smiling behind his mask._

After Sasuke was pardoned for his crimes, he decided to go on a journey for redemption. Sakura went on to further strengthen her skills in the medical ninja field. Naruto of course, continued to work on his dream in becoming Hokage.

"Ms. Haruno! Here's the chart you asked for," a nurse jogged over to Sakura with a clipboard in her arms and handed it to her.

"Thank you," the pink haired woman smiled, gratefully taking the chart.

"Oh and just to let you know um…Lady Tsunade has had Mr. Uchiha's prosthetic ready for quite sometime now," she added.

"Yes she talked to me about it. Well I'll let him know when he gets back," Sakura nodded to the nurse and watched her as she took off.

A sudden thought came to mind since the topic of Sasuke was spoken of.

 **Flash back**

 _"So you're going off?" Sakura asked._

 _Sasuke and Sakura stood at the entrance door to the village._

 _"Yeah… sorry," he apologized._

 _"B-But Lady Tsunade is almost done with your prosthetic hand from Hashirama's cells."_

 _"I…I need to see it for myself…. how the world looks," he explained._

 _"All those things I've overlooked, I have a feeling I'd be able to see them better now and if I miss this chance… I don't think another will come. Plus there's a few things that have been bothering me," he continued._

 _Sakura clasped her hands behind her back, tilting her head slightly down. "Wh..What if I told you…that… I'd like to come too?"_

 _"It's my road to redemption. You have nothing to do with my sins," he stated._

 _Sakura sighed., relaxing her shoulders as she threw her arms forward, hunching her back. "Nothing to do…you say…"_

 _Sasuke sighed and put his hand on her shoulder, which made her look up at him with a confused expression. "I'll be back." He gave her shoulder a slight squeeze with his hand and walked off. Sakura looked back at him with a small smile, but it soon faded as she looked down at the dirt._

 **End of flash back**

Sakura sighed, remembering that moment. After he had left about a month ago, she came to the conclusion that he was going to be in his own world and even though he was back he wasn't really there. Nothing was the same, but she knew it was never going to be. All this time she loved and loved and loved, but all she ever got in return was emptiness and pain.

She knew he was sorry for all of it and she forgave him, but what was she to do for love now? She thought about how Sasuke felt about her and from her perspective it was nothing more than a dear old friend at most. For her own sake she felt that it was time…to move on. Sakura knew that she could never let go of her love, but she figured she could move on to find someone who would return her feelings the way she always wanted.

The jōnin reviewed the chart in her hand and continued her usual duties in the hospital. She only worked part time so she could dedicate the other half of her day to training and sometimes missions. Today was a training day and when twelve o' clock hit it was time to go. Sakura hung her lab coat on her locker door and quickly grabbed her sleeveless red qipao dress and threw that on as well as tying her black obi around her.

Black shorts, elbow and knee protectors, gloves, and shoes were all thrown on. She waved goodbye to all her fellow co-workers and dashed off to the training grounds. Nearing the grounds, she saw Naruto already there from her distance. It wasn't to her surprise that Hinata was there either. She had been trying to strengthen her bond with Naruto from time to time, which Sakura caught on to it.

"Ah Sakura! Hey!" Naruto waved to her.

"How are you two doing?" she asked them.

"We're great! Hinata and I were just kicking some log butt," he chuckled.

"Logs? But that's academy level training Naruto I know you both are better than that," she put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah well…I uh didn't feel right about going against each other," he shrugged.

"Well then Hinata why don't we have a match? Just hand to hand combat nothing more," Sakura suggested.

"Huh?!" Naruto looked at the both of them in astonishment.

"I wouldn't mind that," the sweet ninja replied with a smile.

"Are you sure Hinata?" The boy knew she wasn't weak, but considering the amount of training Sakura had and not to mention the monster strength she possessed, he feared for her. After seeing her nod he decided to let it be and back away. Who knows maybe Hinata would win. The two women gave each other some distance and waited for Naruto to call it. He raised his hand and looked at the both of them to make sure they were ready.

"And…begin!" he slashed his hand down and backed away instantly.

Hinata channeled her chakra into her fists and dashed towards Sakura. The pinkette pulled her fists up as a green aura surrounded them. The Hyūga threw the first punch in which Sakura dodged and tried to counter. Naruto noted how strategically they were trying to fight. The girls clashed fists, creating a loud sound and jumped back.

"You've been practicing," Sakura said with a smile.

"So have you," Hinata tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Clearly I'm going to have to take it up a notch," Sakura clenched her fists, building up some chakra before making a dash towards her.

She took it up to the air and came in for an aerial attack. Hinata dodged this, causing Sakura to make a crater in the ground. This gave her a chance to make a counter attack by attempting to kick Sakura up into the air. Hinata succeeded at this but this was as far as she could get since Sakura made it up into the air and flipped behind her and roundhouse kicked her, causing her to stumble away instead of falling.

"Whew! Almost had me there!" Sakura panted.

Hinata channeled her chakra into one fist and created something less harmful and destructive, but similar to her Gentle Step Lion Fist. She swiftly turned around and sent a blow to Sakura as fast as lightning. The woman was sent flying into a tree. After impact, she slid down to the ground and slowly looked up at Hinata. Naruto looked at the woman in astonishment.

"H-Hinata… where did that come from?"

"D-Did I over do it?" She ran to Sakura's side.

Before she was able to crouch down though, Sakura jumped up and instantly got behind her. She did a half back flip, catching Hinata's neck between her ankles and sent her into the air when she got into a hand stand form. The pinkette charged her foot with chakra and did another roundhouse kick, cause Hinata to get sent to a tree opposite from them.

"Now we're even," she smiled.

Hinata slowly stood up and charged her hands once more. Sakura did the same as they both started walked towards each other. They both picked up the momentum to run to the point of no return. They both clashed fists together, creating a _'boom'_. They both fought for strength dominance as Naruto watched in suspense. Hinata's feet slid back a little from Sakura's power. Funny thing was that she wasn't even going full throttle on Hinata. Strength and power was her specialty so for her to lose over that was not an exception. All of a sudden, Hinata was sent back as Sakura let her have it for real this time. The Hyūga sat against the tree she fell back on, panting.

"You're very good Sakura…" she said out of breath.

She wanted to give the match to her but because Naruto was watching she couldn't do that. Hinata needed to show her power and determination to win. She hoped this was something Naruto would appreciate. As she was getting up another voice was heard.

"It was an interesting fight ladies, but I think we should call it a tie for now," Kakashi spoke.

"Kakashi sensei? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke was also seen next to him, which caught Sakura's eye.

"How long were you two standing there?" she asked.

"Since the beginning of the fight actually," he responded.

The three walked up to the men. Hinata and Sakura dusting themselves off. Sasuke was supposed to be gone still from what they all knew so something must've happened.

"I went and called Sasuke back because I have something serious I want to talk to you all about," he explained.

"There have been rumors about a mysterious ninja…"

They all looked at Kakashi with concern. What mysterious ninja?

"How should I put this…. a synthetic ninja," he explained.

"Synthetic?" Naruto asked.

"Someone is up to no good, using Orochimaru's hideouts to create something that is going to be used for evil. The ninja is said to be extremely dangerous and powerful and whoever created this thing is considering creating an army of them," he explained

"But who would do this?" Hinata asked.

"This is something I'm sending you all to find out," Kakashi replied.

"I'm sending all the teams out to find out more about this… I know we survived the last war, but to do it all again… we might not come out the lucky ones."

"There's going to be another war?!" Naruto yelled.

Another ninja war would be a devastation to the lands and the people. Everyone looked at Kakashi with a serious expression and some dread for the future.

"I don't know, but I'm counting on you all to prevent that. I've heard many disturbing rumors about what this synthetic ninja is capable of and it sounds beyond powerful...you need to stop whoever is doing this before they try to create more," he sighed. "My team seven… you are the power team… you are the team that saved us before… I know you can do it again. Hinata join them as well," the older sensei said.

She nodded and with that Kakashi turned around to walk back towards the direction he came from. "Prepare for tomorrow," he said before disappearing.

"Could it be another…Kaguya…" Naruto said.

"Don't think of it like that! It's not Kaguya… probably some cheap knock off of her from someone who's just crazy," Sakura said.

"Whoever is starting this obviously needs to be stopped before something big happens," Sasuke spoke.

"Sasuke…why did you decide to respond to Kakashi and come back to help? Weren't you doing something for redemption?" Hinata asked kindly and respectfully.

"I was but that can wait. This is a bigger matter that has to be taken care of. I figured I couldn't go solo with this so I came back," he explained.

"Well alright then! Team seven is going at it for one last rumble!" Naruto cheered.

"We all better get some rest," Hinata suggested.

Naruto agreed and said his goodbyes to everyone and then decided to walk with Hinata towards their homes. Sakura and Sasuke stood there in silence. The wind played with their hair and clothes.

"Why don't you go to the hospital and I'll fit your prosthetic," She suggested.

"…. Alright," he nodded. He wanted to say no, but he figured he might need the arm.

…

Sasuke sat with his shirt off in the exam room. It was dead silent with him being the only one in the room. There was a knock on the door before it opened, revealing it to be Sakura with a cart. His prosthetic was on it as well as some tools. The whole time she was feeling extremely uneasy about being around him since she was not fully prepared to face him just yet. Well she'd better get used to it quick since she was about to embark on a journey with him the next day. She decided to remain calm and cool the whole time she was with him…. even with his shirt off in front of her.

"Lift up for me please," she instructed him, tapping on the shoulder where his prosthetic needed to fit.

He did so as she slipped the object on him to see if it fit well first. She then fit it and tightened it completely and then pressed something on the arm.

"Try moving it slowly," she instructed.

He thought that it was odd that she didn't do anything else. Didn't she need to connect his nerves or something? He decided to follow her instruction and attempted to move his arm. To his surprise it moved as smooth as his human arm. Oh how technology has progressed.

"Does it feel nice? Run smoothly?" she asked.

"It's good," he replied, making more movements with his new arm.

"The sensors in the prosthetic read your nerve signals that are left in your arm so it can move smoothly. It's designed to feel like you never lost a limb in the first place. It can withstand just about everything since it is also designed for combat so you shouldn't have a problem with it. If anything should go wrong on the mission I'll be able to fix it," she explained.

"Thank you," he looked up at her.

She looked at him, stunned for a bit. She realized she was staring and immediately shook her head. "Uh Lady Tsunade added a nice feature to it too…. Wherever you are touched, the sensors send a signal from that area all the way up to your brain and you'll be able to feel it…." She placed her hand on his prosthetics forearm and gently rubbed it.

His eyes widened from the feeling he thought he'd never feel again. It truly felt as if he never lost his arm. He felt her hand warm on his new arm. Sakura took away her hand and clutched her wrist.

"Well…that's all there is to it," she turned around to push the crate.

Sasuke looked at her in confusion. "Hey…Sakura," he spoke.

She stopped in her tracks, but didn't turn around to face him. "Yes?"

"Is something wrong?" he asked, his tone not sounding overly concerned, but curious.

"Nothing's wrong," she turned her head to smile at him. "I'll see you tomorrow," with that she left the room.

Sasuke stared at the door with some thoughts running through his mind. _'What's up with her? I figured she would be her old usual self just fawning over me,'_ he thought. Of course he knew something was wrong because the kunoichi never acted this way when he was around. Fake smiles? Distant behavior? He looked down at his arm and placed his hand over the area Sakura touched and started rubbing it. He felt his own touch, but he felt difference between his and hers.

…

The kunoichi sat in her bathtub that night, scrubbing away the dirt from the day. If only she could scrub away her thoughts and feelings. "Why now…when I was just about to get over him," she sighed. "I just…Sakura play it cool and don't let this get the best of you. These are just feelings that shouldn't be existent anymore…just do this mission and come back…that's all…you can do," she sunk more into her bathwater.

 _Nothing but the moonlight was seeping through her window._

 **A/U:** _I really hope I portrayed Sasuke alright because I've read a lot of fan fictions where Sasuke is just not portrayed correctly and it bothers the hell out of me…anyways thanks for reading! If you enjoyed the first chapter please_ **review** _it!_


	2. I want to understand

_Midnight struck and the two were face to face alone on the Konoha streets. The kunoichi slightly looked down as she was shy to say her confession to the man before her. Sasuke had just gotten back from his journey and now she was determined to say her true feelings and hopefully get an answer from him._

" _S-Sasuke I…I've been wanting to tell you something for awhile now.." she began._

 _The man only looked at her with his same expressionless face._

" _Well I…I wanted to express my true feelings to you once and for all…"_

 _Still nothing._

" _I…love you…I always have! I know you know that, but I wanted you to hear it again. I never lost faith in you and I always worried about you…so…with that being said…what are your own feelings? Do you share anything for me?"_

 _Sasuke looked at her with his blank expression with no sign of change._

" _You're annoying. I will never return your feelings."_

 _Those words struck her through the heart and the next thing she knew he had driven a sword through her chest. Everything went black, but the screams had only begun._

…

Sakura woke up from her dream with a fright. Her body was slightly sweaty and her breathing was a bit hitched. The gravity of the nightmare caused her to curl into a fetal position and begin to cry until she grew exhausted and fearfully fell asleep once again.

…

The morning of departure was here. The night seemed to be endless for Sakura. The four members of the team Kakashi assigned made sure to be ready by the time the sun was half way up into the sky. Sasuke, Sakura, and Hinata were all at the gate entrance to Konoha.

"I hope Naruto gets here alright…" Hinata spoke in her soft voice.

"I bet he overslept…that idiot," Sakura sighed.

Sasuke looked ahead and saw the yellow haired goof running their way. He pointed at his direction so the two kunoichis can see. Naruto stopped in his tracks as soon as he reached his group, panting with his hands on his knees.

"S-Sorry I'm late! I-I uh…. overslept…" he said once he caught his breath, scratching the back of his head. He gave them all the same goofy 'I'm sorry look' when he knew he did something wrong, but tried to cover it up by looking cute.

"See?" Sakura rubbed her temples, trying to not get overworked this early in the day.

"Well now that we're all here should we be going?" Hinata asked kindly.

"Heh! You bet! Let's get going!" Naruto, of course, ran to the front and lead the group.

Hinata smiled her shy yet sweet smile and caught up to Naruto to keep him company.

 _Of course I'm in the back with Sasuke._ The pink haired kunoichi decided to keep it cool and pay as little attention to the man walking next to her as she could. She knew he wasn't much of a talker, which was something she never thought she'd be grateful for.

 _And onward they went as the team of four._

Hinata and Naruto spent their time talking up ahead while Sasuke and Sakura were in silence from behind. Every now and then Sasuke would glance at Sakura to see if her expression would change. Her face was just tired looking, not the old overly joyed or the bubbly eyes it was just…tired. He knew he was gone for a bit, but how could she change so drastically in a matter of a few months? She wasn't this way when he left. He decided to brush those thoughts away when he detected movement. The rest of the crew felt it as well and stopped in their tracks.

"Hinata…" Naruto said.

"Right," she replied.

She summoned her byakugan and searched the area for unwelcomed people. When her eyes set on what was causing the movement she giggled. "It's just a little dog," she stated.

The other three relaxed as the said dog jumped out of the bushes.

"Aw he's cute!" Naruto walked over to the little animal and pet him. "He's a friendly guy!" he added.

A poof of smoke instantly covered the area, which threw the team off guard. The once little cute doggy turned into a ferocious giant beast.

"Yeah he's a friendly guy…" Sakura spoke.

The beast stomped his paw down on the area the team stood. They dodged the attack before they could be crushed by the deadly stomp that made the earth shake. Naruto instinctively put himself ahead of the group to protect them as Sasuke joined his side ready to attack. The beast summoned a ball of flames through its mouth and launched it towards the group, causing them to abandon their position once again to dodge the attack.

' _He's a fire type…'_ Sasuke thought to himself.

The blonde summoned a few clones and made a dash towards the enemy. Him and the duplicates leaped into the air with rasengans in their hands and attempted to destroy the head, but something unexpected occurred. The beast had a transparent barrier around it, causing Naruto to clash with it and be sent away by its force.

"It has a barrier protecting it…" Hinata spoke.

"Hinata," Sakura called to her attention.

"Y-Yes?"

"I'll shatter that barrier. Once I do that go ahead and drain its chakra," she spoke.

"But what if it-"

"Don't hesitate!" Sakura then dashed forward.

The kunoichi's fists radiated with the chakra she collected into them.

"Naruto!" She called out to the blonde who didn't have it together at that moment. With the knuckle head being in the way, she jumped and landed on his shoulders to use him to get higher up as she leaped into the air.

"Let's see you handle this!" The woman clashed her fist against the barrier.

The barrier didn't shatter at that moment, it took sometime and energy as her fist only grew stronger from the amount of chakra she was giving it.

"Sakura! L-Look out!" Hinata warned.

The beast was beginning to summon a rather large fireball and intended to hit the kunoichi with it.

"Just a little…more…" She increased her power by the second in attempt to break the wall.

"Get out of there!" Naruto yelled.

"Hah!"

The barrier was shattered; interrupting the attack the beast was forming. The creature then grew furious as it lifted its paw to take a swing at Sakura. Everything happened too fast, there wasn't enough time to react. Naruto and Hinata could only watch in horror even as they tried to get to her in time to save her from the beast. Sakura closed her eyes and made a cross with her arms to shield her face. She prepared herself to feel the swing of that deadly paw, but it never came. A pair of arms was all she felt at that moment. When the girl opened her eyes and slowly lowered her arms, she found herself on the ground being carried by Sasuke.

"Sasuke?"

Their attention was then directed to the sudden screech coming from the beast. Hinata used one of her lion fists to drain the chakra network, thus weakening the enemy greatly and Naruto came in with a rasengan to finish it off. A windy explosion was accompanied by this attack, making Sasuke casually turn away in order to shield the medic he held in his arms. Once the atmosphere had calmed down, he set her on her feet without a word or expression.

"Thank you for…saving me," she spoke.

"Hn," was all he replied with.

Some things never change do they? The other two members of the team came running to them as soon as the ordeal was taken care of.

"Good job teme!" Naruto chuckled.

"Shut it dobe," Sasuke retorted.

"Sakura that was awesome what you did, but please don't scare us like that again alright?" the blonde ninja spoke.

"That barrier was tougher that I thought so it took a little while to break it," she replied.

"Be smart about it next time. We can't always be there to save you," Sasuke spoke, but it wasn't in a harsh tone he just wanted her to be aware of the reality that next time something could happen.

"But we'll be there for each other as much as we can so no need to worry too much," Naruto grinned.

"Hey um…well Kumogakure is not too far from here so why don't we try asking around the village there?" Hinata softy spoke.

"And maybe we could spend the night! Man they have the best hot springs," Naruto spoke as if he was already in the warm water.

"Fine by me," Sakura replied.

Naruto never needed a reply from Sasuke. If it was something the rest of the group was alright with and if he wasn't in a hurry then it was fine with him. As the blonde ninja lead the way with Hinata by his side, Sasuke and Sakura followed in silence.

 _His suspicions grew…_

"Ah! This hits the spot!" The orange spark shook the water from his blonde hair and leaned back against one of the rocks.

The Uchiha simply sat in the bathwater of the men's hot spring in his usual composed behavior. His back was against his own rock across from his best friend. Nothing but endless thoughts flowed through his mind. Echoing words seem to bombard the Uchiha profusely until-

"Hey Teme! What are you thinking about?"

Before he could register it, Naruto was right in front of his face. Sasuke only flinched slightly as his reaction, but it was enough for the blonde to giggle and confirm that the black haired male was indeed in deep thought.

"Go over there," Sasuke spoke in a dismissive tone.

"Not until you tell me what's on your mind."

Oh what an annoying boy he could be, but Sasuke always secretly admired how much he cared for his friends or anyone for that matter. Of course he never spoke what really was on his mind and fed him white lies just to get him off his back. As soon as the Uchiha dressed himself in his navy blue robe, he exited the spring changing room to find a figure in the distance through the window of the small inn the group was staying at.

 _Sakura_

What was she doing out there? And in her robe? The pinkette stood barefoot by a lake beside a tree under the moonlight. Her pale hand brushed up against the bark as her green hues looked over at the reflections in the lake. It was then when she turned her head to make eye contact with the Uchiha. The man's eyes widened at that moment, but once he blinked she was gone. Did he just imagine that?

 _Her face_

His hand met his face, rubbing the sleep away temporarily. It was all his imagination he thought. Once he began to make his way through the corridor of the inn, the same figure appeared around the corner.

"Sakura?" He then called out.

He wanted to know if this was real this time and not his mind playing tricks on him. She responded by acknowledging his call with eye contact.

"You should…be getting some rest," she told him before removing her eyes from his.

After just finishing up in the bath, she did not want to cross him at this time. She had hoped she could make it to her room and just end the night.

 _Just what is wrong with her?_

"Are you well?" he simply asked.

"Of course I am," she simply replied.

Simple. Too simple. Sakura was only to the point when she wanted to get a conversation over with or hide something. His female teammate said her goodbyes to him before leaving him alone in the hallway. As Sakura walked away from him it almost felt as if she was losing energy. Out of all times why did she need to feel this way? Why couldn't her feelings be buried with their genin days?

Sasuke stood there alone in bewilderment. He was actually curious and he truly cared to know…he **wanted** to know just…just…

 _Just what exactly…was she feeling?_

 **A/N: So I suck at updates and this was short I am heavily sorry for that, but it is the New Year and I'm happy to present an update. I think you might catch one shots more often due my wild spontaneous ideas haha, but I will do my best to update! Please keep in mind that these few months are very important and I need to put my best efforts so I hope you remain patient like you have been. Thank you for your support and please leave your wonderful reviews!**

 **Keep in mind they are wearing the outfits from Naruto the last.**


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